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	Del. Priest Says lifting Time Limits on Sex Abuse Suits Could Hurt Parishes By Beth Miller Daily Times May 11, 2007 http://www.delmarvanow.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070511/NEWS01/70511019/1002 Dover — The cost of child sexual abuse became a pointed issue Thursday as lawmakers heard public comment on a bill that would eliminate the civil statute of limitations in such cases. A Catholic priest warned legislators that removing the time limit on such lawsuits and allowing old cases to be pursued could put enormous financial pressure on some parishes, forcing them to close schools and cut back ministries. The Rev. John Hynes, pastor of St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church near Prices Corner, said he believed a program of restorative justice — forcing perpetrators to face their victims and admit the wrong they did — would provide more relief for abuse victims and cause less damage to churches. Lawmakers, meanwhile, debated whether state institutions should be treated the same as private, nonprofit and religious groups — and whether the bill was clear enough on that issue. S.B. 29, sponsored by Sen. Karen Peterson, D-Stanton, would eliminate the civil statute of limitations for child sexual abuse — which is now two years — and provide a two-year window during which claims previously barred by the statute could be filed. Institutions that allow abuse to occur through gross negligence also could be sued. The bill passed the Senate unanimously last month. It hit some snags Thursday as the House Judiciary Committee took public comment. Turnout for the hearing was so great that lawmakers moved it to the House chamber to accommodate the crowd. But time ran out before even half of those wishing to speak had done so. Committee Chairman Robert Valihura, R-Laurel Ridge, said the hearing will be continued. Sponsors are hoping for a vote on the bill next week, before legislators go on a two-week break. But that timetable may be optimistic given Thursday's developments. Rep. Greg Lavelle, R-Sharpley, who sponsored similar legislation last year, raised Peterson's ire by introducing an amendment clarifying that the state and its public school system were not excluded from the provisions of the bill. Peterson said the amendment is a "red herring" and an effort to kill the bill. She said the bill clearly mentions public institutions as among those that can be sued in the two-year period during which past cases could be revived. She would not remove the state's immunity in future cases. "How can we hold the state accountable for the actions of the school districts?" she said. Lawmakers balked last summer at passage of similar legislation late on the last night of the session. An $18 million price tag was attached to it if the state was included, and Peterson said she cannot find out where the $18 million figure came from. She amended the bill and sent it back to the House, where time expired. Lavelle said the nature of child sexual abuse is so egregious that it warrants removing state immunity whether the cases are old or as recent as the incident earlier this week, when a Colonial School District cafeteria worker was charged with sexually assaulting a child with special needs. "We can buy golf courses," Lavelle said. "We can put sand on beaches and build greenways. But we can't do this? I'll give up $18 million for this. I'll vote for that." Retired Superior Court Judge Vincent Battaglia urged House lawmakers to pass Lavelle's amendment to make it clear that governmental agencies would not be immune, and said he would prefer to see the statute of limitations lengthened but not eliminated completely. Battaglia, who chairs the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington Review Board, which investigates allegations of sexual abuse against priests, said removing time limits makes it difficult for anyone to get a fair hearing. Robert Quill of Marathon, Fla., urged lawmakers to pass the bill in its unamended form. Quill said he was a victim of the Rev. Francis G. DeLuca starting when he was an altar boy at St. Elizabeth Church in 1968 for five or six years. DeLuca, 77, now faces criminal charges of child sexual abuse in Syracuse, N.Y., where police say he confessed to molesting a boy there for about five years. The Catholic Diocese of Wilmington has acknowledged that DeLuca was removed from ministry and allowed to retire to Syracuse in 1993 when similar allegations arose against him here. After DeLuca's arrest last fall, Bishop Michael Saltarelli released the names of 20 priests against whom the diocese had substantiated allegations. "I am convinced that holding institutions liable will control their future behavior," Quill said. Nelson Lamb of Brandywine Hundred also urged lawmakers to pass the bill. Lamb said his son, Barry, was among several abused by the Rev. Edward Dudzynski, who was on the diocese's list. Lamb said his son continues to struggle with the damage he suffered, while Dudzynski remains free to live and work in Herndon, Va., having faced neither criminal nor civil consequences for his actions. "Exposing these predators to public scrutiny will have an impact on other predators," Lamb said. Hynes, the pastor at St. Catherine, said he considers sexual violation of the young to be "a kind of murder of the soul." He was a co-celebrant at a healing Mass for sexual abuse victims held in Newark in 2005 and has supported efforts of the lay group Voice of the Faithful, which supports victims and has called for change in some church policy. But, he said, jury awards like the recent $41 million award to an Archmere Academy alumnus who said he was raped at least 234 times by a priest on the faculty there, could crush local parishes. "Money does not cure a wounded soul," he said. Contact Beth Miller at 302-324-2784 or bmiller@delawareonline.com.
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